Saturday, January 28, 2012

(video) LISTEN TO YOUR OWN VOICE

John Cullum and Emily Frankel delve into the subject -- the importance of knowing what you think, what your instinct is, what you like. And learning to listen to your own voice, even as a director explains his ideas, his concept for the part you're playing.

Em feels finding her voice was essential, a major event for her as a writer. It's something she keeps touting to other artists.

John translates the idea into a practical thing for actors. You need to be you, who you are, and be able to hear what others are thinking and doing, and still, find your way back into being YOU.

Great subject today! Yes, everything you and John had to say about it I agree with. Our inner voices are very important and need to be heard in our work of art whatever it is-acting, writing, etc. Keep being you! kam

That is a wonderful shirt. Did you make it Emily? It certainly looks like your voice. Finding a true voice in writing is extremely hard--it's so easy to fall into a "fake" voice. But I remember that when I used to do art when I was young, I didn't think about having a voice at all, but when I look at the art now, I can see clearly that I had a unique voice.

HOW I GOT HERE

I started out as a modern dancer, contemporary, but balletic. I didn't want to be a swan, or a barefoot dancer. I wanted to dance to the music that thrilled me as a child, and made me want to be a dancer.

I began writing in the truck my first husband, Mark Ryder and I bought, in order to carry our set, props, and costumes for a long one-night-stands tour -- eighty-eighty performances in eighty-eight cities.

We were performing "Romeo and Juliet" nightly, but our marriage was breaking up. Every day while our stage manager drove us two-hundred miles or so to the next booking, I'd type a detailed description of last night -- what we did well, what we argued about, and a travelogue about the town, and comments from the people at the nightly party.

Recovering from the trip and the divorce, I sent my "car book" to a friend who said -- "Em, it's great,but ..." And that became rewrites, and another book. Then, my marriage to actor John Cullum, and then a play that got produced, and another book, big hopes because a famous agent loved it.The title and concept changed five times -- now it's been published, finally, as "Somebody, Woman of the Century." You can buy it, or read about it and my other five novels on Emily Frankel.com